George Square battle lines drawn

A square off amongst six teams aiming to transform Glasgow’s premiere civic space is gathering a head of steam as the public debate over the merits (or lack thereof) amongst the six shortlisted schemes are aired.

Speaking on Scotland Today last night George Square goers weren’t shy from passing judgement with one branding a tartan carpet proposal as ‘cheesy’.

The ‘people driven’ approach of scheme four drew the attention of more passers-by however, who warmed to a seductive image of a wintery George Square on an iPad - whilst navigating a maze of heras fencing, temporary stands, workmen, works traffic, mobile cranes, pock marked asphalt, portacabins and giant wheelie bins.

Whats more to the point is how this scheme is going to get decided - democratically and informed / influenced by whom? people or cars? Does not seem like there is much time for a wide debate on this before the ever quickly looming deadline for the 'winning project' to be announced.... Surely a bit longer than a couple of weeks to decide would be good! The judging panel is equally prestigious as the design teams... is the decision going to reflect what the city wants?

#10: Who said anything about this being a democratic decision? The exhibition and feedback is presumably an attempt to contrive a false sense of community engagement. This is Scotland, not Switzerland.

The more I think about the process, the more it enrages me. The original GS design, although deterioted over the years (most notably in the recent past) has stood for over 100 years, and would still be an entirely valid scheme to full reinstate.

These 6 designs, in my opinion have nothing of this quality, and seem to be designer whim at best, more likely laziness and unresolved / unclear.

Are any of these designers getting paid to enter?
I don't think they are, so no wonder the designs seem rather whimsical and unresolved. It's not their fault. It's the procurement process. Personally so far I'd go for the football option. I'd add in some posts though.